Shell Agreed to Sell Russian Retail-Stations

Shell has decided to sell its retail station and lubricant business in Russia to oil and gas giant Lukoil, the latest Western company to find a domestic buyer for its planned exit from Russia.

The deal for the company named Shell Neft includes 411 retail stores in Russia and a lubricating oil-blending plant near Moscow. Shell has not disclosed the deal value yet and has said on Thursday that the deal is expected to preserve 350 Russian Shell employees.

Shell said last week that it's Russian marketing business was valued at $600 million. The company also said that it expects to close the deal by the end of this year. Lukoil said that the assets will be useful for it to expand its domestic retail and lubricants business. 

With fellow oil giants BP PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp, it ended decades of collaborations in Russia, which cost billions of loss. Shell incurred $3.9 billion in after-tax costs last week in connection with its decision to leave Russia in an otherwise favorable quarter, supported by rising commodity prices and slightly impaired strong refining margins.

In April, Canadian mining group Kinross Gold Corp. announced that it had agreed to sell a huge Arctic Russian mine to a unit of Fortiana Holdings Ltd. for $680 million, the first public sale of an asset left by major Western companies in Russia.